Wire straightener



Jan. 15; 1935' c. D.'JOHNSON 1,987,741

WIRE STRAIGHTENER Filed April 4, 1934 lnvenTor. Charles Ddohnson WM WAkM AITys.

Patented Jan- 15, 1935 v i I g UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE WIRE STRAIGHTENER Charles D. Johnson, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Johnson Steel & Wire Company, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a. corporation of Massachusetts Application April 4, 1934, Serial No. 718,969

This invention relates to wire straighteners and wire through both of the straightener elements. particularly to wire straighteners of that type Any adjustment which is made in the first which comprise two straightener elements havstraightener element by which the pulling strain ing a tandem arrangement and through both of necessary to draw the wire through said element 5 which the wire to be straightened passes. Wire is increased or decreased will, therefore, affect 5 straighteners of this type are frequently referred the back drag or retarding pull on the wire as it to as two-way straighteners. These two-way is passing through the second straightener elestraighteners are sometimes in the nature of ment and will thereby efiect the operation of said rotary straighteners and sometimes in the nature second straightener element.

of pin or roller straighteners. In the straight- ,Because of the fact that the efiect produced 10 eners of the latter class the straightening of the on the wire by each straightener element is dewire is done by passing the wire between two pendent on the adjustment of the otherrows of pins of rolls which are so arranged that straightener element it is very diflicult to make as the wire passes between said rows it is flexed any proper'adjustments to overcome any tendency is first in one direction and then in the other. for the wire to spiral. The method now com- In a two-way straightener of the pin or roll monly used is a sort of cut-and-try method, type the pins or rolls of one straightener elethe operator making an adjustment of one of the ment are arranged at right angles to those of the straightener elements and then observing theiwire other so that the flexing of the wire will take to seeif such adjustment has corrected the fault place in two planes at substantially right angles and if it'has not then he makes some other ad- 26 to each other. justment, either of one or both of the straight- In the case of a rotary straightener it is usual ener elements in a further attempt to correct to provide for rotating the two straightener elethe fault, these experimental adjustments being ments in opposite directions. repeated till the desired results are approximately In both types of straighteners it is customary achieved. 255 W Provide ea s by which the amount which In order to overcome this difficulty and to pro the wir is flexed i p n through th traightduce a straightener which can be readily ad ener may be adjusted, and in the case of a pin or justed to produce a straight Wire I propose to roll straightener this adjustment is provided for provide a wire straightener which is constructed 30 by a construction which permits the two rows or" so that the wire will be delivered to each straight- 36 p of either element to be adjusted toward Or ener element substantially free from tension,- so from c otherthat the only pulling strain to which the wire In h p r n f a w -w y raightener the subjected as it is passing through each straight wire is passed through the two straightener eleener element is that necessary to draw it through 4 ments successively and fi is wou d Ona driven said element. I provide for this by installing a 35 receiving drum, the friction of the turns of wire capstan or its equivalent between the source of about the drum being sumcient to draw the wire supply and the first wire straightener element through the two straightening elements. The and which operates to draw the wire from the tension or pulling strain on the wire as it is wound source of supply and deliver it to the 40 on the receiving drum is sufficient to overcome the straightener element substantially free from ten- 40 frictional, resistance of the wire in passing sion, and by installing a second capstan between through both of the straightening elements and the straightener elements and which serves to the result'is that the wire which is delivered to draw the wire through the first straightener ele-= the second straightening element is under a ment and deliver is substantially free from ali sufiicient tension or pulling strain not onlyto tension to the second straightener element. 45 draw it through' t-lie first of the straightening With this arrangement the operation of each elements but alsb to withdraw it from the reel or straightener element is entirely unafiected by swift from which the wire is'supplied. any adjustment in the other straightener element With this arrangement the length of wire and it is possible for the operator to quickly make which is passing through the second straightsuch adjustments in the straightener elements 50 ener element is subjected at one end to a back as necessary to produce a straight wire and to drag or retarding pull equal to the pulling strain prevent the wire from having a spiralling tendnecessary to pull the wire through the first ency after it passes through the straighteners.

' straightener element and at the other end it is In order to give an understanding of the insubjected to apulling strain suflicient-to pull the vention I have illustrated in the drawing a 86 selected embodiment thereof which will now be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claim.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a wire straightener embodying my invention:

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

In the drawing 1 indicates the wire to be straightened and this is shown as being taken from a coil or bundle 2 of wire carried by the swift 3.

While the invention is applicable to wire straighteners of either the rotary type, or the pin or rolltype, I have chosen to illustrate it as it might be embodied in a wire straightener of the roll or pin type.

4 and 5 indicate two straightener elements each of the roll type and both of which are mounted on a suitable supporting frame 22. The straightener element 4 is of the type having two rows of rolls or pins 6 between which the wire 1 passes,

- said rows having such a relative position that as the wire passes between them it is flexed first in one direction and then in the opposite. straightener element 5 is similar in construction except that its rolls 6 are mounted on axes situated at right angles to the axes of the rolls of the first straightener. In the first straightener 4 the rolls 6 rotate about horizontal axes and in the second straightener 5 the rolls rotate about vertical axes.

Each straightener is made adjustable in some suitable or usual way as by means of the ad- :lusting screws 7, so that the two rows of rolls or pins of each straightener element can be adjusted toward or from each other thereby varying the amount or degree of flexing to which the wire is subjected as it passes through the straightener element.

8 indicates a usual wire-receiving drum on which the wire is wound as it is drawn through the straightener, said drum being mounted on and rotated by a driven shaft 9 as usual in wire straighteners.

As stated above the present invention provides a novel construction by which the wire is delivered to each straightener element 4 or 5 substantially free from tension. One way of accomplishing this is to provide a capstan between the straightener element 4 and the swift 3 and by which the wire is drawn off from the swift and delivered to the straightener element 4, and to provide another capstan between the straightener elements which serve to pull thewire through the straightener element 4 and deliver it to the straightener element 5.

The first-mentioned capstan comprises two drums or pulleys 10 and 11 around which the wire 1 passes several times in its passage from the swift 3 to the straightener element 4;

The drum 10 is a driven drum and is mounted on a shaft 21 supported in the frame 22. The drum 11 is anidler also supported on said frame. The wire is wound around these drums a sumcient number of times to provide the necessary friction to draw the wire from the swift.

The other capstan comprises the two drums 12 and 13 around which the wire passes several times in its journey from the first straightener element 4 to the second straightener element 5. The drum 12 is mounted on a driven shaft 17 which is journalled in the frame 22 and the drum 13 is also rotatively mounted in said frame but is in the nature of an idler.

The wire coming from the straightener element 4 passes around the drum 12, thence around the drum 13, thence around the drum 12 again and so on a sumcient number of turns and then the wire is delivered to the straightener element 5. The drum 12 is power driven and furnishes the power for drawing the wire through the straightener element 4.

Any suitable way of driving the power-driven drums 10 and 12 may be employed without departing from the invention. As herein shown the power-driven shaft 9 for the receiving drum 8 is provided with a pulley 14 which is connected by a belt 15 to a pulley 16 on the shaft 17 of the drum 12. This shaft 17 has another pulley 18 thereon which is connected by a belt 19 to a pulley 20 on the shaft 21 of the drum 10. Both the driven drums 10 and 12 thus derive their rotation from the power-driven shaft 9.

It will be understood that the pulleys 14, 16, 18 and 20 will be of the proper size to give the power-driven drums 10 and 12 the proper surface speed to draw the wire from the swift and through the wire straightener element 4 and to deliver the wire to the two straightener elements substantially free from tension and without the accumulation of any slack in the wire.

With this arrangement the operation of each straightener element will be uneifected by any adjustment in the other straightener element and this arrangement facilitates the securing of the correct adjustment of the straightener elements to produce a straight wire.

While I have illustrated the invention as applied to a two-way wire straightener of the pin or roll type yet I desire to state that the invention is equally applicable to a straightener of the rotary type and in applying the invention to .a rotary straightener a capstan or its equivalent will be placed between the two rotary elements of the rotary straightener and will operate to draw the wire through the first rotary element and deliver it to the second element. If desired, a capstan or its equivalent also may be placed between the source of wire supply and the first rotary element.

I claim:

A wire straightener comprising a capstan for drawing wire from a source of supply, a straightener to which the wire is fed from said capstan and which gives the wire a series of alternate opposite bends, a second capstan for drawing the wire through said straightener, a second straightener to which the wire is fed from the second capstan and which gives said wire a series of alternate bends in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the bends are made by the first-named straightener and a power driven wire-receiving drum on which the wire is wound as it is drawn through the second straightener.

CHAS. D. JOHNSON. 

